When Neighbors Tangle Online

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Igor Oberman, left, a former president of Trump Village Section 4 in Brooklyn, is suing some residents for defamation. Eugene Ovsishcher, also of Trump Village Section 4, has publicly tangled with the board in the past.CreditEmon Hassan for The New York Times

Complaining about the co-op or condominium board is practically a blood sport in New York, an unfortunate side effect of living under the rule of elected volunteers. Usually, disputes go no further than a heated exchange at the annual meeting. Much like a family feud, the dirty laundry is rarely aired in public. But thanks to the Internet, that is changing.

At two Brooklyn co-ops, for example, disgruntled residents have launched publicly accessible websites critical of board members and how their buildings are managed. In response, board members at both buildings have filed defamation lawsuits against the shareholders.

When such disputes leave the building, even residents who have nothing to do with the board or the website can be affected. If a building’s reputation is publicly marred, property values can suffer. Buyers might reconsider making an offer if a cursory web search turns up a catalog of misery and misfortune.

“Social media has given people more platforms to speak their minds, especially since they can do it behind closed doors — they don’t have to face the people that they’re arguing with,” said Stacey R. Patterson, a real estate lawyer who represents condos and co-ops in New York and New Jersey. “Between chat rooms and Facebook pages, you set up anything and you can start a war.”

“It’s just starting,” said Dean M. Roberts, the corporate counsel for Trump Village Section 4, a 1,144-unit complex in Coney Island, Brooklyn. “As more buildings get a web presence and people generally become more web aware, you’re going to start having your dissident fights on the Internet.”

At Trump Village Section 4, conflict between shareholders and building management went public three years ago when residents launched a website, TV4 United orTV4News.org. Last year, the building and Igor Oberman, who was then president of its board, sued Julia Bezvoleva and Inna Yeselson, along with seven others who used pseudonyms, for defamation. Among the John Doe defendants was “Josef Stalin,” who posted comments like, “Why we let a dirty no good politicians [sic] destroy our investment?” according to court documents.

In August, a judge ruled that the case had enough merit to proceed, dismissing the defense’s argument that a board member is a public figure. For a public figure to sue for defamation, he or she must prove that the critic knew that the information was inaccurate and had malicious intent. The hurdle for proving defamation is lower for private citizens.

Trump Village Section 4 was built in 1964 by Donald J. Trump’s father, Fred C. Trump. Today, a three-bedroom apartment there sells for around $450,000, according to a real estate agent who is familiar with the buildings.

Search the web for the building’s name and TV4News.org immediately pops up, with dozens of posts critical of Mr. Oberman, who is, like many of the residents, a native of the former Soviet Union.

One such post questions the merits of an article published in a building newsletter about a canceled carnival. “The fact that this newspaper is totally controlled by Mr. Oberman is reminiscent of communism,” it reads. “It makes us wonder, who is the communist using KGB tactics?”

Mr. Oberman, critics say, ran the complex with an iron fist. “I don’t know what his problem is, but he just doesn’t like people who don’t agree with him,” said Eugene Ovsishcher, 45, a Trump Village resident who is not part of the suit. Mr. Ovsishcher successfully fought an eviction suit a few years ago that was sparked by his need for an emotional support dog, a Shih Tzu, at a time when the complex prohibited pets.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development stepped into the fray in January, charging Mr. Oberman and Trump Village Section 4 with discrimination against Mr. Ovsishcher and his wife. The case has since been referred to a federal prosecutor.

Mr. Oberman says the board has gone out of its way to comply with HUD rules. Board members have gone through HUD training and the building has changed its pet policy to allow for pets.

Although the language can be heated, TV4News does raise legitimate issues. Lengthy posts question board election tactics, inspection rules and eviction policies. Jim Quinn, a lawyer representing the two named defendants, who deny involvement in the website, said he believes the lawsuit is intended to silence critics.“If you lived in a building and you thought that someone was mishandling the building,” he said, “you would want to talk about it.”

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As the moderator of a Google Group for owners at the Edge in Brooklyn, Dennis Lin keeps things civil.CreditEmon Hassan for The New York Times

Mr. Oberman maintains that his critics represent a handful of shareholders unhappy with his methods, such as using drones to search for unregistered air-conditioners in windows. “Whenever you try to enforce rules you have a lot of people who say it’s not fair,” he said. As for elections, he said, the board uses outside vendors to handle ballots.

In the past, if residents wanted to fight a board, they had to find a time and place to meet. But with a website, aggrieved neighbors can commiserate 24/7.

“If somebody is doing something that is wrong and you can share that experience with somebody else, you can talk yourself down from the ledge,” said Justin W. Patchin, a director of the Cyberbullying Research Center. “But there is also the concern of the mob mentality.”

And websites can be misleading. A site rife with outraged comments could represent the thoughts and opinions of dozens of residents or it could be a platform for one loud voice.

“What do you do when Ms. O’Leary, the crazy cat woman in 5C, starts putting up these postings and you’re trying to sell your apartment?” Mr. Roberts said. “It’s hard to delineate the truthfulness of some Internet stuff because crazy cat woman’s comments look the same as the board president’s comments.”

These days, even business review sites like Yelp are rife with posts critical of various apartment complexes. Some buildings are playing offense with management-sanctioned chat rooms on platforms like BuildingLink.com.

Even the tamest of online forums can turn testy.

“You have a lot of keyboard warriors,” said Douglas Lee, 33, a member of a Google Group at the Edge, a condo in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

“We have to remember that just because you’re reading it on the Internet doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt,” said Sherry Turkle, the author of “Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age” (Penguin, 2015). “Face-to-face conversation is work. Getting back to it is work, but it’s work that we know how to do and it’s work worth doing.”

For the targets of online attacks, the emotional fallout takes its toll. Friends, business associates and relatives frequently ask Mr. Oberman, 42, about TV4News, he said. Potential shareholders have inquired about it at board interviews, he said.

“Being a punching bag is one thing,” said Mr. Oberman, who resigned from his post as board president in June to take a paid position as the complex’s property manager. “Being hung, quartered and crucified is different.”

An Internet search of Mr. Oberman’s name pulls up TV4News first, followed by articles about the HUD investigation and the $7,500 fine Mr. Oberman received last year from the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board over campaign violations made when he ran unsuccessfully for the City Council. But Mr. Oberman, who is appealing the board’s decision, said the other negative press did not carry the same personal sting. The website “is basically saying we’re crooks and we’re cooking the books,” Mr. Oberman said. “I think that’s very upsetting.”

Mr. Oberman says that because of his critics, he plans to sell his three-bedroom and move to Staten Island.

Brokers who sell at Trump Village 4 suspect the fracas has dissuaded some buyers.

“I’ve had good sales there, but could I have had better sales? Could I have had more buyers? I don’t know,” said John Cerrone, a salesman at Douglas Elliman. “To say that people are openly expressing dissatisfaction and to say that cannot have an effect, I think that’s naïve.”

On a website about 2800 Coyle Street, a co-op in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, residents are divided into two groups: “Good Guys” and “Bad Guys.”

Topping the list of “bad guys” is Svetlana Marmer, who has been president of the co-op board for eight years and owns two apartments in the 157-unit building. She is described on the site as “a bitter woman who is angry that she has achieved nothing in life.”

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A pier near the Edge, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where revelers annoyed members of a resident Google Group.CreditEmon Hassan for The New York Times

The contents of the website, along with emails sent by shareholders to residents and outside recipients, convinced Ms. Marmer and two other board members to sue five named shareholders and two anonymous defendants for defamation in 2013.

Judging by the website, the animosity in the building predates Hurricane Sandy, which had a severe impact on 2800 Coyle Street, where peeling paint and crumbling plaster have yet to be remedied. And the damage wrought by the storm escalated an already contentious situation.

“It’s a disaster, it’s like a homeless shelter,” said Vadim German, 54, a defendant in the defamation suit, whose ground-floor apartment sustained $29,000 in damages from the storm.

Dissatisfied residents of 2800 Coyle Street accuse management of not making necessary repairs after the storm, compounding longstanding claims of corruption, mismanagement and engaging in a pattern of intimidation.

Alec Sauchik, the co-op’s corporate council, argues that the real victims are the board members who have been repeatedly criticized and harassed for doing their job, including trying to make building repairs. “There’s been a witch hunt going on for almost a decade by a small group of individuals who were essentially trying to unseat the board,” Mr. Sauchik said.

Mr. German said he did not know who created the website. He said he did write emails critical of the leadership. “If I call the president of the company a pirate, I don’t know if it’s slander,” he said. “If it’s true, why is it slander?”

Mr. Sauchik declined to say why his clients believe the defendants created the website.

Not all online forums degenerate into battle mode. At the Edge, the condo in Williamsburg, residents started the Google Group in 2011, a year after the development opened. Initially, they used the email listserv to vent about the challenges of living in new construction — How do you make the refrigerator stop chirping?

Residents did not have control over the condo board (and still do not), so the forum provided space to discuss issues away from the watchful eye of the sponsor.

Dennis Lin, one of the original members, has administered it almost since the beginning, reading every email residents write. He has never removed a post, but he has weighed in when tempers flare.

“A lot of times when I say, ‘Let me find out more,’ it calms everybody down,” said Mr. Lin, who is 38 and works in finance.

Now, the group has more than 600 members, all owners. Renters cannot join, nor can residents of the affordable housing component of the Edge next door. Membership is by invitation from an existing or former member. Mr. Lin approves requests by confirming ownership through city records.

Members use the group to ask neighbors to water their plants, to sell their wares and to organize parties. But it is also used to address problems, giving members a platform to organize so that they have a larger voice in the building and the neighborhood than they might have otherwise.

When residents had complaints about the garage, alleging scratched cars and slow service, Mr. Lin collected photographs and stories of incidents, delivering 17 pages of evidence to the parking management company.

And when members were bothered by people making noise along the public waterfront at night, members coordinated calls to 311 and collected photographs of the goings-on. Last year, Mr. Lin, who is now a member of the condo board, and other building representatives met with the local City Council member, the Parks Department and the Police Department about noise concerns.

Most members seem to understand that, in a complex where a penthouse recently sold for $3.812 million, airing grievances can have consequences.

“People are aware that even though this is a private, invitation-only group, emails are emails and they could get forwarded to anybody,” Mr. Lin said. But ultimately, the benefits outweigh the risks. “We are a community,” he said. “We have a huge benefit by having this group.”